


Not Even Lions Can Tear Us Apart

by Neverander



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, OT3, Werewolf Danny
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-30
Updated: 2015-07-30
Packaged: 2018-04-12 00:06:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4457699
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neverander/pseuds/Neverander
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Haunted by visions of her traumatic past Danny awakens to find that the nightmares are all too real and the past is catching up with her in a horrific way.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Not Even Lions Can Tear Us Apart

_The heat of the fire is warm and comforting on her skin in contrast to the chill night air. Her hands are sticky from the marshmallow in her s’more. She leans back on the log and kicks her feet towards the fire; that’s when the screaming starts. She freezes. Her eyes dart around what she can see of the campsite. She can’t find her parents. She jumps up and runs as fast as her little legs can carry her to where she last saw them. There are dark shapes all over the ground; she knows they are other families, she keeps running._

_The screaming is so loud._

_She skids to a stop as something warm and wet spatters her face but her feet keep sliding and her hands hit the ground in a puddle of warm blood.  
Her mother’s one good eye stares at her, the rest of her face is a ruin of flesh, and she doesn’t move. Past her she can only recognize her father by his worn work boots, the rest of him is blood and flesh and intestines spilled on the ground she’s kneeling on. She stands, shaky, and sees the wolf out of her peripheral vision for the first time. _

_Her jaw snaps shut and the sudden ringing silence in her ears tells her she was the one screaming all along. Her chest heaves. The wolf moves closer, it’s eyes flashing in the campfire light. It lunges for her; she sucks in a breath and never screams again._  
\--  
Danny shoots up from her bed, landing gracefully on her feet. Her heart is pounding, her teeth ache, and her skin burns. She stalks to the open window and swings her long limbs over the ledge. By the time she hits the ground the wolf has burst from her skin and she tears through the forest on all fours. She runs until the sun rises, until her feet hurt, until she can no longer feel the warm blood coating her skin.  
\--  
Carmilla finds her in the predawn light. A hand running through the fur on her head causes her to look up. Carmilla is looking out over the crest of the hill at the fading stars. This is their place. They sit under this lone tree out on the edge of the Silas’ campus, looking at the stars, watching the sun. They come together with Laura or together alone or just alone, as Danny had intended the night before, but it has always been a place of comfort and Danny is glad that Carmilla found her here.  
Danny shifts as she rises and shakes her red hair from her eyes. She leans her head on Carmilla’s shoulder and neither says a word as the sun rises over the hilltop.  
“How did you know I was here?”  
Carmilla’s shoulder gently jostles Danny’s head as she shrugs. “I was awake.”  
Danny lifts her head to catch her eye, “you still listen to us without meaning to huh?”  
Carmilla rolls her eyes.

They found in the past months that Carmilla is a little paranoid about the people she cares about.  
Danny and Laura were running across campus to class when Laura hit an ice patch; Danny caught her but suddenly Carmilla was there, looking nonchalant as ever. Then Danny was grazed by an arrow from a wayward new Summer Society recruit. While Danny healed quickly, the head wound still bled and Carmilla was beside her in record time. When Danny or Laura’s heart rate spiked, suddenly, Carmilla would be there. Carmilla hadn’t realized she was doing it at first but when they pointed it out she admitted that she maybe could hear them in the back of her head. They had been trying to get her to stop; worried about her worrying about them, but clearly that hadn’t worked too well. 

“It’s not something I can really turn off. I’m just…in tune with your heartbeat. It happens.”  
Danny lays her head back down, “I’m glad you’re here anyway.”  
They sit in silence again and Danny begins to drift until Carmilla’s voice quietly disrupts the still air. “I’m not really one to talk about much of anything in the way of feelings, but if you wanted to talk I would listen.”  
Danny finds her hand, warm to the touch, and squeezes it gently. “Thank you.”  
Carmilla shrugs again. They know Danny is an orphan but they don’t know much else and Danny doesn’t want to talk about it, which is fine but they worry anyway sometimes. Times like this, when Danny runs in the middle of the night and they don’t see her again until she’s in class the next day, they worry a lot. So they ask, and Danny says nothing, and they worry still.  
“We should get back to Laura.”  
Carmilla nods, “She’s asleep still.”  
Danny grins tiredly and looks at Carmilla out of the corner of her eye, “That’s creepy, Karnstein.”  
Carmilla smirks, “Whatever, Clifford, let’s go. It’s past my bedtime.” 

\--  


Laura is awake the moment they walk into the room. Her sleepy eyes blink at them and she reaches a hand out to Danny. Danny takes it as she walks forward and squeezes her fingers in reassurance. Laura pulls her down to bed and Danny pulls Carmilla after her. They fall in a tangle of limbs. Carmilla settles behind Laura, kissing her cheek before burying her face into her yellow pillow.  
“Hey.” Laura whispers, smiling lazily at Danny.  
“Hey.” Danny replies, her voice just as low.  
“Are you okay?”  
“Yeah. Tired.”  
Laura looks over Danny’s shoulder at the clock in the far corner, “pretty sure we both have class this morning.”  
Danny buries her face in Laura’s shoulder briefly, “I’m going to live on caffeine today. Inject it directly in my veins, no problem.”  
“Pretty sure Silas’ health department has actually been experimenting with that.”  
“Ask Laf. They’d know for sure.”  
“Are you sure you’re okay?”  
“Yeah.” Danny smiles. Rising tiredly from the bed. Laura sits up with her, still holding her hand, brushing her thumb across her knuckles. “I have to grab my things from the Summer House. I just wanted to check in, let you know I was okay.”  
Laura sighs, squeezes her fingers, and lets go. “Meet me for lunch?”  
“Definitely.” Danny kisses her cheek before moving quietly from the room.  
Laura turns to Carmilla, who looks mostly asleep. “She really okay?”  
Carmilla mumbles into Laura’s hip before raising her head. “If she wants to tell us she will, cupcake. Not everyone shares as much as you.”  
Laura pouts down at her. “Fine. I’ll see you tonight.”  
Carmilla hums, her eyes already closed again. “Don’t make that face. She’ll tell us when she wants to or we can tie her to a chair for a week, that worked so well that other time.”  
Laura huffs, “you’re never gonna let that go.”  
Carmilla mumbles, “probably not anytime soon, no.”

\--  


Danny has felt watched all day. She’s ridiculously tall, has flaming red hair, and is well known around campus but this isn’t like that. She has been looking closely at the people around her, using her hearing to try and find the outlier but it isn’t working. She knows something is wrong as she heads to meet Laura for lunch. As she approaches the outdoor seating she sees Laura and a shadow over her shoulder at the edge of the woods. Laura waves her down and Danny takes in their scent. Her heart races. Her face goes blank. She brushes past Laura like she’s never seen her before in her life. Laura’s face falls and she turns as Danny passes her, face full of confusion, but she doesn’t call out. Danny doesn’t want him to know her, knows that Laura’s face is giving it away but she hopes it works anyway. She moves straight for him, her speed kicking in as he fades from the tree line. She chases after him in a blur. He’s not running as fast as he could be, he wants her to catch him, and she does. She checks him, hard, into a tree. Her teeth elongate and she is growling without meaning to. He grunts as the tree cracks from the force of the blow. He turns to her, his eyes flashing golden in the grey light.  
A storm is coming, it’s in the air.  
_Danny can smell blood and it isn’t hers and it isn’t his and suddenly she’s eight years old trying to hold her chest together with small desperate hands. He stand above her, those eyes flashing, firelight gleaming off his human face._  
_She dreams of dying._  
_She dreams of killing him._  
_She dreams of killing herself._  
_She’s nine years old and she turns for the first time, alone and terrified. She kills three neighborhood dogs before she’s sent back to foster care._  
_She’s ten and has slightly more control and slightly more rage. When she turns she almost kills her foster father before she’s sent back._  
She’s eleven and she grows like a weed. She never fit in her body before but now everyone can see it. She’s awkward, and she has never fit in her skin, she’s never fit in her body… and when she turns she only does damage to herself; it hurts, it hurts, it hurts.  
_She’s twelve years old and she knows she will never have a family again and she turns alone._  
“Danny!”  
Danny snaps back. She’s on her knees, half changed, in the middle of the forest at Silas University. Laura approaches her slowly and Danny tries not to scream because he must know now who Laura is. Danny is by Laura’s side in an instant frantically searching the forest. He could have killed her right there; Danny lost it and he could have done anything.  
“Danny, what--?”  
“We have to go. We have to go right now.”  
Danny throws Laura on her back and shoots through the forest inhumanly fast. Her heart is still beating so hard in her chest that Laura can feel it through the back of her shirt. They’re in Laura’s room, door slamming behind them, before Laura can formulate another question. It’s the same question really.  
“Danny, what is going on?”  
Carmilla shot awake the second Danny entered the building. She’s on her feet, looking pissed and checking them over for signs of injury.  
Danny tries to breathe, the panic running fresh through her. Laura is safe now, here, with Carmilla. So Danny drops to her knees, hyperventilating, _and she’s eight years old trying to hold her chest together._ Her blood choking her, drowning her, as she stares up into the golden eyes of the man who took the only family she’d ever had. “He’s here.” She gasps. They are kneeling in front of her, completely at a loss for what to do.  
Danny stares into the eyes of the only people she’s loved since she was eight years old.  
_He’s here to do it again._

\--  


They bring in Perry.  
Perry kneels down in front of Danny while Laura and Laf stand over them. Carmilla paces the length of the room; Danny’s racing heart and fear making every one of her hairs stand on end. Her teeth had sprung the second she smelled how afraid Danny was and she longed to destroy something.  
Perry makes direct eye contact with Danny. She lays a hand on Danny’s chest and mirrors the motion with one of Danny’s hands. “Breathe with me Danny.”  
Danny’s chest heaves and she struggles to focus.  
“You’re alright Danny. Everyone is okay. Just breathe with me.” Perry takes slow, deep breaths. Her chest moves steadily beneath Danny’s hand.  
It takes several long minutes for Danny to calm. Eventually her breathing slows to match Perry’s until they’re in sync.  
Carmilla stops pacing. Perry stands slowly and Laura kneels to take her place.  
“Thank you.” Danny looks up at Perry with watery eyes, still taking deep steady breaths.  
Perry shakes her head, “it’s what I’m here for.”  
“Do you want to talk about it?”  
Danny looks to Laura. “No. But we have to.” She looks back to Perry, who has moved over to Laf, “I’m sorry but I want to tell them alone.”  
Perry and Laf both start waving their hands reassuringly. Laf starts with, “no worries, no worries.” Perry gently shoves Laf out the door, finishing with, “If you need us, we’re right down the hall.”  
They shut the door behind them, leaving the three alone.  
\--  
Now they’re lying on Laura’s bed, Danny sandwiched on her back between them. She had explained the best she could about her nightmares, her memories, of the night she was turned.  
“I don’t want to lose you.”  
Carmilla scoffs. “As if that idiot could take us.” Her arm tightens around them.  
Laura breathes Danny in, her hands fisted in the other girl’s shirt. “I don’t get why he’s here now though. How did he even find you?”  
“I don’t know. I don’t care. I’m going to kill him.” Her heart rate kicks up. “I can’t believe I froze like that.”  
Laura lays her hand over Danny’s heart. “PTSD is a real thing. I can’t think of anything more triggering than the guy who killed your parents standing right in front of you. Plus with heightened senses it must be so much worse.”  
“It is.” Carmilla’s voice rumbles over Danny’s shoulder. Danny reaches down and grips her free hand. “You could have told us sooner, Red.”  
“I know.” Danny keeps staring at Laura’s ceiling, at the glow in the dark constellations she helped place there. “I’m just used to dealing with this alone.”  
“So what do we do?” Laura asks them quietly, knowing they have a shared violent trauma different from her own.  
“I don’t know. I never thought I’d see him again. I certainly never thought he’d fucking show up on campus.”  
“Whatever it is, don’t face him alone.”  
Danny checks on Carmilla out of the corner of her eye. “Isn’t running into dangerous situations without backup more Laura’s thing anyway?”  
“Hey!” Laura thumps her lightly on the chest. “You two need to stop picking on me. We’ve all done dangerous, stupid, things.”  
Carmilla hums noncommittally.  
Danny nods, “fair point.”  
“Maybe he found you by accident and he’ll just leave.”  
Danny sighs. None of them believe that. 

\--  


Danny finds him again at the edge of the forest as she leaves the building that houses her TA office. She breathes deeply, keeping her heart rate calm, as she stalks over to him. He doesn’t run. She stands in front of him and can’t believe the monster from her nightmares is at least two inches shorter than her.  
She wants to scream.  
“What the hell are you doing here?”  
He smiles, it’s a sharp bearing of teeth more than the placating gesture he intends it to be. “I can’t check in on my protégé?”  
Danny’s fists clench. “In what universe am I your anything? You left me to die in the woods with the rest of my family!”  
He shrugs, “some kids live, some kids don’t. It’s how you find the strong ones.”  
Danny blinks at him and backs away, just a little. “You’ve done this to other kids? How many kids?”  
“That’s what I’m here to talk to you about actually. I want you to join my pack, Danielle.”  
Danny has no idea what the fuck is going on and she is getting sick of it. “That’s bullshit. You destroyed my life, why the fuck would I ever—explain what you mean when you say you’ve done this shit to other kids right now!” Danny can feel her control slipping; her nails pierce her palms.  
“Calm down Danny, it’s a simple survival thing. Helps me find the strongest people for my pack.” His eyes gleam. “You have to do more than live, you have to survive as a wolf alone in a world of humans who will never understand. If you can do that and come out on top, well, then you’re worth my time. I keep an eye on all my kids.” He smiles at Danny like he means it, like he cares. “I always knew you’d make it. I knew that night by the fire, how you never ran away. I’m so glad to see you again.”  
That does it. Danny’s heart spikes, her teeth grow sharp and she lunges for him without thinking. He drops to the side and Danny carves out a tree before they’re off, tearing through the forest. Danny snarls as she clips his thigh and they go down grappling in a mass of fur.  
He kicks Danny’s large copper wolf through a tree. She shakes it off and by the time she’s back on her feet Carmilla is in the clearing, her panther hissing viciously at the large grey wolf.  
He stops and pulls back into his human form. His hands raise in a surrender that neither believe. “Hey, hey, Danny, Danielle, all you have to say is no. No hard feelings. Most of my kids want to join because they crave the pack life after being alone so long, but if you don’t feel that way, then stay here.”  
Danny leaps through the air, landing on human feet in front of him. “I can’t even begin to describe how horrible and fucking manipulative this whole goddamn thing is. So no I don’t want to join your pack and if I ever fucking see you again I’ll rip you apart!” Danny is screaming now and she’s on the edge of panic. Carmilla stands beside her, hand on her shoulder, teeth bared at him. “Fuck, I don’t even know your fucking _name!”_  
He starts backing away into the woods. “It’s Darren. If you ever change your mind I’m sure you can find me.” 

\--  


Danny can’t slow her pounding heart. She takes off into the woods as a wolf, leaving Carmilla to chase after her. She runs until she aches and finally settles beneath their tree. She kneels, as a human, panting tiredly.  
Carmilla leans casually against the trunk of the tree. “Do we think he’s really gone?”  
Danny waits until her breathing calms and her heart slows. “I don’t know. I don’t know but he’s done this to other children and I can’t,” she looks up at Carmilla meeting her eyes, “I can’t just let him go. He can’t keep doing this.”  
Carmilla subtly bristles. “Why. Why do you two always do this? You always have to be the hero.”  
“That’s not what this is about and you know it.”  
“No of course not. Xena the righteous. Xena the defender of the small.”  
“Seriously? As if you’ve never saved anyone.” Danny was standing now. “I can’t let him orphan children for fun, it’s so fucked up. I can’t believe you’re fighting me right now. _You_ with your stupid vampire heroics.”  
“That was for someone I knew, someone I cared about. You and Laura will fight for literally anyone. You’re ready to chase someone you can’t handle over hypothetical children! Christ Danny! Let him go! Let him leave.”  
Danny backs away and heads down the hill. She can see it, hidden behind all of the callous mocking anger; Carmilla is afraid, afraid for her. It doesn’t make sense but it makes Danny feel braver. She can’t let him introduce new fear into her life, into the lives of people she cares about. “I’m not letting him go.” She whispers it to the wind and knows that Carmilla can hear her as she fades into the trees.

\--  


Laura is waiting for her on her bed, her feet kicking the air. “Carmilla told me about the woods.”  
Danny nods, “of course she did, but she didn’t see him before. He doesn’t give a shit about what he’s done Laura. He’s done it to other people, he’ll do it again.”  
“Mhm,” Laura nods in agreement, “So what’s our plan?” Laura hops up off the bed and stands in front of Danny. She looks up to make direct eye contact. “You aren’t doing this alone so,” Danny shifts her eyes away. “Yeah, nice try, no one is letting you go after him alone. I’ll call Laf, and Perry, hell I’ll call Kirsch if I have to but you aren’t doing this alone.”  
“No, I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”  
“Well that’s tough, Danny, because no one wants you getting dead.”  
Danny shakes her head, “I don’t think he really left anyway. I think he really wants me to join the pack, for some reason. I think he’ll come back and I don’t think he’ll kill me.”  
“Pretty sure if you try to kill him he’ll change his mind on not killing you, Clifford.”  
Danny spins to find Carmilla lounging in the doorway. “Thought you’d stay away longer.”  
Carmilla shrugs, “Can’t let you two plan this whole thing. I’ve seen those plans, they’re bad plans. You’re lucky I’m a nice vampire.”  
“Thanks Elvira.” Danny rolls her eyes but is glad Carmilla had come around.  
Laura huffs, “we got you didn’t we. The plan worked well enough.”  
“Yeah we aren’t tying him to a chair creampuff, we’re killing him. It’s a little different.” Laura’s face betrays how she feels about actually planning out killing someone. “And we don’t want you involved.”  
“Actually, I don’t want either of you involved.” Danny interjects.  
“You can’t take him, Xena.” Carmilla says flatly.  
“You don’t know that oh queen of the night.” Danny’s tone is mocking.  
“Yeah? Suddenly you aren’t terrified of him?” Camilla says it sharply; it’s meant to cut.  
“Fuck you, I’m working on it.”  
“Yeah, ‘cause this is the kind of trauma you work on for a day and get over. Seriously Danny? I still have to watch the stars at night so I know I’m not in the ground! It’s been decades!” Carmilla’s fangs are out and she strains up into Danny’s face. “You had a breakdown in the woods and there was no world in which you were winning that fight today. So don’t come at me and tell me I’m not going to be there when you go after him because that’s shit Danny! No one I love dies like that again!” Carmilla is panting air she doesn’t need.  
Danny can’t look away from her because Carmilla has never actually said that to her before and what if she looks away and it isn’t real.  
But then Laura touches them both on the arm. Connecting them all together. “None of us are going to die.”  
Danny still doesn’t look away. Wants to ask the question, needs to ask, but is afraid of the answer. “You love me?”  
“Of course I do. Can’t seem to stay away from people who throw themselves at danger once a week.”  
Danny’s smile is sunshine and Laura’s smile grows to match. “Okay, calm down, we still have serious things to discuss.” Carmilla tries to get them to ignore all of the emotions she just revealed to no avail.  
Danny swoops down, picking Carmilla up and peppering her face with kisses. “Christ, Clifford.”  
Danny stops, still smiling, still holding Carmilla off the ground. “I love you too.”  
Laura squeals a little, and Carmilla rolls her eyes. “Then kiss me for real Xena.” And she does.  
\--  
It’s been a week. They’ve been on alert just incase he shows up again on campus but there’s been nothing. The most they’ve been able to plan is finding his pack and somehow trying to make them see what a horrible being he is in the hopes that they turn on him. Carmilla is not sold and neither is Danny really so they’re still brainstorming.  
Danny is heading back from class to the Summer Society House when she’s hit. She pulls a dart from her left arm and her entire body burns, her heart rate slows to a crawl, and her vision blurs. She drops her books and bag to the ground and stumbles forward. She’s close to the house she thinks she can definitely make it. Black and purple veins pulse along her arms and neck and face.  
She tries to blink away her double vision.  
She blinks and she’s on the ground, Darren’s face is shadowed above her but everything is so slow she can’t even panic--she blinks and they’re moving through the woods, she’s slung over his shoulder and-- she blinks and she’s laying face first in the grass at the edge of the Silas campus where the woods recede to meet the giant cliffs overlooking the ocean.  
The smell of salt water is so strong she breathes deeply, trying to clear her head. She twists and sees him sitting ahead of her, watching her. She tears at the ground with her right arm, trying to pull herself up but she can’t put any power behind it.  
“I wanted to talk again. We keep getting off on the wrong foot. I’d like to talk without any unnecessary fighting or your vampire friend showing up. Honestly Danielle? A vampire? Humans I can almost understand but, see, this is why you need a pack.” He shakes his head, both condescending and scolding.  
Danny’s jaw is clenched so hard in pain she can’t speak. A low growl rumbles from the back of her throat.  
“You have so much leadership potential. You’re one of the most powerful wolves I’ve ever made. I’m serious Danny. Come with me. Be my second in command. It’s the family you’ve always wanted, I promise you.”  
He looks so annoyingly sincere. Danny can feel more power coming back to her legs and she pulls herself up with her good arm, her left cradled to her chest. Nausea swims though her now that she’s no longer laying down. “I’m…never,” her head lolls forward and she has to stop to keep breathing. She pulls her head back up to meet his gaze, “gonna join you.”  
“Well, hell Danny, that’s honestly too bad. I had high hopes for you, all these years.” He sits up on his knees. “I don’t leave loose ends though, so unfortunately, you’re not leaving-”  
Danny can feel most of her legs again and her vision is only moderately blurred. He must know how much time he has, though, so she lunges before he finishes his sentence. She swings her right arm, catching him in the face with her clawed hand. She rolls from him and stumbles forward, but he catches her easily. His arm is around her neck, his knee in her back, as she kneels bent backwards on the ground.  
“See Danielle, you’re so damn strong. You sure you won’t come with me?”  
Danny can’t breathe. She feels sick and her veins still burn. She digs at his arm but it’s not moving. He suddenly jerks back. Danny drops forward and looks over her shoulder. An arrow is sticking out from the edge of his neck where it meets his clavicle. Danny looks to the woods, Laura is fist pumping, holding Danny’s bow. Carmilla is already halfway across the grass, her panther lunging for Darren as he pulls the arrow out.  
Panther and wolf roll across the ground, teeth snapping and vicious growls filling the air.  
Laura drops to her knees beside Danny. “Shit.” She traces the black and purple veins along Danny’s face and arms. “Are you okay?”  
Danny shoots to an upright position at the smell of Carmilla’s blood and promptly drops to the side, throwing up a combination of her lunch that day and black ooze.  
Carmilla hisses angrily as Darren gashes her side. She kicks him away and circles around him with a slight limp.  
“Shit Danny don’t-“  
But Danny wipes her mouth and lunges forward again, calling her wolf out. The transformation is almost as painful as the first few times she turned as a child. Her copper wolf stumbles towards the fight, not putting much weight on her left front leg.  
Carmilla distracts Darren and Danny slams into him from his unprotected side, her claws latching onto his abdomen. He bucks Danny into the ground and lands on top of her, snarling at her throat. Humanoid Carmilla’s full arm span is around his neck as she yanks him backwards off of Danny. He drops them both to the ground, knocking Carmilla off, and lunges for Danny again. They tumble end over end towards the edge of the cliff. Danny shifts back to human, digging her shoes into the dirt to catch them. His claws dig into her hip and thighs but she shoots her clawed right hand deep into his chest. She cracks through sternum and ribs and clutches at his heart.  
Darren gasps and his whole body spasms so hard he bucks them both over the edge. He is human as they tumble, one hand still buried at Danny’s hip, her arm still in his chest. His gold eyes dim as they drop to the frothing waters below.  
It’s the last thing that Danny sees before she hits the rocks.  
\--  
Laura is screaming Danny’s name, searching frantically over the edge of the cliff. Carmilla stands beside her, her side slashed and one lone cut up the side of her face where he’d just managed to clip her at the start of the fight.  
She touches Laura’s arm to slow her. Laura’s tearstained face turns to her pleading. “I’ll go get her. I’ll get her Laura, just wait here.”  
Carmilla doesn’t wait any longer before disappearing in a cloud of smoke. She reappears sliding over the rocks at the bottom of the cliff, navigating with waves crashing up to her thighs. She slogs through the water searching for signs of Danny.  
She didn’t tell Laura that she couldn’t hear her heart anymore.  
She’s soaked and the salt water makes her wounds ache and she can’t keep her footing on the slippery stones. She is trying so hard not to fall apart. The silence in her mind is deafening.  
She scrambles forward when she sees Danny’s sneakered foot wedged into some rocks, her leg twisted at a severely unnatural angle. Carmilla dives under the waves. Danny’s entire body is held underwater by Darren’s dead weight as both their blood pools into the ocean. Carmilla rips his hands from Danny and drags her to the surface. Once she frees Danny’s leg she teleports them back to Laura.  
“She’s not breathing.” She hasn’t been for a while. Carmilla tries to ignore that devastating thought.  
Laura drops beside them, pulling herself together. She is so thankful for her father’s extreme paranoia in that moment because she is trained on how to properly administer CPR. Laura tries for long minutes and Carmilla stares at the fading black veins on Danny’s skin. Carmilla doesn’t want Laura to stop but wonders how long she can let her keep trying, then Danny’s whole body spasms. Water dribbles from her mouth and Laura rolls her to the side as she throws up seawater and more black sludge. Laura pulls Danny into her lap; crying as Danny lays gasping. Carmilla can’t actually believe that Danny’s heart is beating and when she meets Danny’s tired eyes, they glow a deep crimson red just before Danny passes out again.  
\--  
She has several broken ribs, her hip was dislocated, her leg was shattered in three places, as was her scapula; she is littered with gashes--not to mention the intense concussion resulting in a giant bruise spreading up the entire right side of her face but she’s alive.  
She wakes up in the emergency medical wing of the Silas health department, because of course they have a whole wing for shit like this. Laura is draped over the bed her arms tangled through Danny’s and her head resting in Danny’s open palm, asleep. Carmilla is stroking her fingers absently through Danny’s hair, her chair close to the bed but angled towards the window to look at the stars.  
“Hey.” Danny whispers, throat hoarse.  
Carmilla’s hand stutters. Danny must be on some excellent drugs for her heart to not have given away that she was awake.  
Carmilla turns slowly to look at her. The gash on her face mostly healed. Her hand strokes down, caressing Danny’s face. She brushed a thumb across her cheekbone. “Hey.” Carmilla’s voice wavers and her jaw snaps shut. She swallows. “You are the luckiest Amazon I have ever known.”  
Danny grins tiredly. “Know many Amazons, do you? You’ll have to introduce me sometime.”  
“I love you. You are an asshole and I love you.”  
Danny reaches up slowly and holds her wrist, “I love you.” She grins dopily. “You were right, no way that idiot could take us.”  
Carmilla huffs. “This is what I get for being emotional.”  
Danny hums softly, her eyes drooping. “How did you find me?”  
Carmilla watches her eyelids drift close over glowing red eyes as the drugs pull her back under and she doesn’t answer because she doesn’t know.


End file.
